


Taking the Leap

by Roadside_Wildflower



Category: Frozen (Disney Movies)
Genre: F/F, First Kiss, Fluff, Getting Together, Hurt/Comfort, Internalized Homophobia, Light Angst, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-22
Updated: 2019-11-22
Packaged: 2021-02-26 00:53:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,938
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21524773
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Roadside_Wildflower/pseuds/Roadside_Wildflower
Summary: It has been nine months since Elsa moved to Northuldra, but she still hasn't accepted her feelings for Honeymaren. Can a bit of magic and mischief change that?
Relationships: Elsa/Honeymaren (Disney)
Comments: 19
Kudos: 501





	Taking the Leap

It's midnight, but the sun is still wavering on the horizon, dowsing the enchanted forest in a pulsing orange glow. The summer days are impossibly long in Northuldra, and Elsa still doesn't understand it. But there's a lot about Northuldra she still doesn't understand.

Elsa eases off her aching legs to look down at the reindeer-trodden earth. Kristoff's expertise would be helpful right about now, or even Ryder's. But she's not sure if Ryder will ever even talk to her again, after what happened.

Elsa sinks to the ground and tries not to cry as she again goes over the sorry sequence of events that led to this point, which have been playing on repeat in her mind nonstop for the last few hours.

Because after nine months of living in the North, Elsa has come to realize that the Northuldra people are not as similar to Arendellians as she had expected. Even though her mother was Northuldran, Elsa herself has little claim to the culture. She still struggles to read their strange script, and she is constantly making a fool of herself because she doesn't understand their cultural customs, like when she assumed that two of men in the tribe were just really close friends and not husbands. She nearly fainted when she saw them kiss, because that was among the most ultimate taboos in Arendelle. And when she told them so, they gave her the cold shoulder for the better part of a month.

But the reverse is also true in a way. Things from her childhood she had taken to be Arendellian have slowly been revealed to be Northuldran, much to her delight. Things like her mama's song, and scarf, and even some of the old adages she would tell her and Anna as children. Sayings like "every slip is not a fall," and "look before you leap," and "don't talk behind people's backs because windspirits are mischievous and hear everything and can bring them your words." Well, she hadn't told Elsa that last one, but she should've. Because Elsa had gone and made a fool of herself.

This whole mess had started with Olaf, because it seems like all the trouble these days gets stirred up by that snarky little teenage snowman. Olaf had been gushing about how happy Anna and Kristoff were together as newlyweds, but then the snowman had deftly turned to conversation onto the subject of Elsa's own love life.

"So, Honeymaren," the snowman had said suggestively, nudging Elsa with his little snow torso. "She's cute, isn't she?"

"What? Why would you even say that?" Elsa had panicked, struggling to keep her cool.

"Probably because she clearly likes you, and you seem to like her. You share a tent, and are always laughing around each other, and--"

"Just stop it, Olaf. You don't know what you're talking about."

"Oh you did not just go there," Olaf had snapped back, teenage attitude on full display. "I spend a lot of time with the love experts, so I'd know this kind of thing, okay? You like her, she likes you, I don't get what the big idea is."

"The big idea is that it's never going to happen!" Elsa had shouted. "I don't like her that way, and-- and I don't like her at all! And even if I did it could never be! So just stop, Olaf." And then the forest got quiet, and Olaf shook his head in frustration.

"Sometimes, I just don't get you Elsa. I'm going back to Arendelle. Have fun not being in love." He had then strode away angrily, or as angrily as snowman can waddle away.

Elsa was left alone to trudge back up to camp, but when she got there, everyone was staring at her. And it wasn't until one of the elders muttered something about windspirits and secrets that Elsa understood. A windspirit had whisked her words back to camp, and Honeymaren had heard what she said.

Ryder wouldn't tell her where Honeymaren had gone. He would only say that she had taken a reindeer and rode out into the woods and that Elsa shouldn't follow.

But that was enough.

And that's why she's stranded in middle of the far north of the woods with no idea where to turn or what to do.

She wipes at her runny nose with her sleeve. What is she to do? Her mother's words come back to her. "Every slip is not a fall." Maybe things aren't all lost yet. Maybe... maybe this isn't some terrible disaster.

And idea strikes her. "Gale!" she calls out. A moment later the windspirit whips past her and settles down next to her. "I have an important message for you. Maybe the most important message I'll ever give you. Do you think that you can deliver it for me?"

The windspirit hums in affirmation.

"Good." She bends down and whispers the words to the spirit, and after a brief moment, the spirit is away and there's nothing for Elsa to do but wait.

And the waiting is torture. Actual torture. It makes her wonder if this is what Anna felt for all those years, waiting for her to open up the palace gates. Waiting for her to be her sister again.

An hour passes, and Elsa tries not to panic. Maybe Gale was waylaid.

Another hour passes.

And another.

And finally, just as the midnight sun starts to rise high in the sky again, Elsa lets herself cry. Really cry, like she hasn't since she came to Northuldra in the first place.

But then there are footsteps, falling soft against the pine needles coating the ground.

"Hey," the other woman's voice calls out unsteadily.

Elsa looks up, wavering eyes meeting Honeymaren's rich brown ones. "I had given up hope you'd come."

"Well, I'd sort of given up hope on you too." She sits on the ground, close enough so that Elsa can reach out and touch the other woman, but farther away than she ordinarily does, like on cool nights when Honeymaren presses up against her, heat warming Elsa's skin as they cuddle to keep warm. Or like during cold nights in their tent when they cuddle under the thick covers, in ways that dance on the edge of being something more.

"I'm sorry," Elsa blurts out. "I-- I didn't mean what I said."

"So you said to the windspirit," Honeymaren says slowly, drawing the words out, "and I believe you. That doesn't change what you said though."

"I know it doesn't."

Honeymaren nods and draws her knees up close to her chest, looking out into the thick forest around them. "And the other thing the windspirit told me, what about it?"

"I--" Elsa falters a little. "I... I mean it too. I love you."

Honeymaren sighs. "I've always known that, Elsa. But what I don't know is _how_ you love me." She reaches out and grabs Elsa's hand, lacing their fingers together. "Because I knew from the first time we sat by the fire together and sang that I felt something for you, something different than the kind of love you have for a sister or friend. And I've always thought you did too, but now, I'm not so sure."

"I..." Elsa says, looking down at their joined hands. "I felt it too, even then."

Honeymaren scoots closer, so that their hips are flush together. Elsa tries to fight the resulting flush in her cheeks.

"So," Honeymaren starts softly, "what's the problem, Elsa? Why can't we be together?"

"Two women, it's-- it's not allowed, in Arendelle. And I know it's okay here, but I can't help but feel... gross. Like I'm some sort of freak." Elsa closes her eyes, not wanting to see the other woman's reaction. But no harsh or exasperated words come. Instead, Elsa just feels Honeymaren's hands trail through her hair, caressing her, and she melts into the touch.

"It's alright, Elsa. I can't say I know exactly how you feel, but I understand why you feel the way you do."

Elsa feels warm lips press a searing kiss to her forehead, and she finally opens her eyes again. "So you don't think I'm close-minded, or silly, or... not worthy or your love?"

"Of course I don't." Honeymaren wraps her arms around her, and for the first time since coming to Northuldra, Elsa feels a little at home in her arms. "I love you, and that's not going to change just because you're scared."

"Really?"

"Really. I do think though," she says, sitting back a little bit, "that sometimes, you just have to take the leap. Address your fears. Let yourself live in spite them."

"But in Northuldra, isn't there a saying to 'look before you leap?'"

"Well," Honeymaren starts, her voice dry, "I think I happen to look pretty darn good. So don't let that stop you from making the leap."

Elsa giggles a little. "And... if I took the leap, if we were together, what... what would change?"

Honeymaren reaches out to caress her cheek. "Not much. Except we'd be able to kiss, and eventually, we could marry if you like. Even adopt a child or too."

"One from here and one from Arendelle," Elsa says with a growing smile.

"And I can build us all a big sled so that we can take the whole family down to visit your sister, and we can have _so_ many reindeer, and--"

Elsa holds out a finger to shush her. "Stop talking."

"Not a fan of the reindeer?"

"No, but I am a fan of you."

"Well then, you better take the leap to shut me up before I--"

Elsa lunges forward and brushes her lips up against Honeymaren's, stomach somersaulting and warmth tingling throughout her body. The other woman leans into it, and they move their lips together, clumsy and fumbling but still all kinds of magical.

Finally, Elsa leans back. "Wow," she whispers.

"Wow," Honeymaren whispers back. "That was..."

"Incredible," Elsa finishes.

"I was going to say amazing, but it works," Honeymaren giggles.

"So... does this mean we're..."

"Together?" Honeymaren asks.

"Yeah."

"That's for you to decide. Because you know I want to be with you. But are you okay with being with me?"

Elsa thinks about it. Really thinks about it. But it only takes her a second to make up her mind, because no matter how difficult things may be, no matter how hard she might have to fight for people in Arendelle to accept her, she knows that this woman's love is worth it, and there's nothing about what they feel for each other that could ever make her feel gross or freakish again.

"Honeymaren, I want you for as long as you will have me," Elsa says, lifting the other woman's fingers to her lips for a tender kiss.

"So chivalrous," she teases back.

And they stay there, wrapped up their own little world of each oher, for hours. It's hard to tell time during the arctic summer since the sun doesn't follow the same arc is it does in Arendelle, but from their chapped lips and rumbling stomachs, Elsa knows they stay there together for a good long time.

But somehow, when they return to the Northuldran camp, hand in hand, everyone is out of their tents, waving cheering them home.

Gale flutters around Elsa and teases her hair from her braid, and it's then she realizes that it was her mischievous windspirit that started this whole thing.

But she's too happy to care, and she knows that as long as Honeymaren is by her side, she can face anything.

**Author's Note:**

> AN: that movie was soooo good, but it needed just a bit more gay :) If people like this I might follow it up with a second chapter where they visit arendelle for the first time as a couple!
> 
> Edit: Alright y'all, a second chapter is gonna happen! Thanks for all the kind words and encouragement :) I'm not sure when, but hopefully I'll be able to put something out before the end of the month!


End file.
